My mobile rang as I walked through the front door. It was unlikely to be Simone. She’d mentioned that she had to meet with her accountant and visit her solicitor about an inheritance from an elderly aunt, and would try and sort out a time to meet soon afterwards. I squinted at the unknown number and pressed receive. An electronically distorted voice came on the line, electronic, low and alien. It said my name – not Joshua Thane, not Joe Nathan, but my criminal soubriquet, ‘Hex’.
I killed the surprise in my reaction. Mentally, I was in a good place. The call meant we were in play. ‘Yes,’ I said.
‘I have your girl.’
Which girl? Shock made me dull-witted. ‘Simone?’
The voice laughed. ‘Simone? I thought you’d taken care of her. Looks like I’ll have to deal with it myself.’
China, I thought, wrong-footed – had to be. He must have faked his own death. ‘Who is this?’
‘Irrelevant.’
I wanted to punch holes in the walls. I wanted to call him a scheming, double-dealing bastard. Losing my temper would not extend her life, however, so I said, ‘You have McCallen?’
‘I do.’
‘She’s alive?’ Blood pumped through my temple until I thought my brain would burst.
‘You didn’t really think she was dead, did you?’
‘Where is she?’
‘All in good time.’
‘What do you want?’
‘To make you suffer.’ The mocking tone vanished.
I didn’t go into why he was doing it, no point. ‘This has nothing to do with McCallen.’
‘It has everything to do with McCallen. You were quite a duo.’
‘It was nothing more than a straight business transaction. I did her a favour. She helped me out. As did you, if you remember, or have you forgotten how you helped me to nail Billy Squeeze?’ China’s precise motivation now eluded me.
‘I have not forgotten.’
‘Why Titus?’ I said.
‘Collateral damage, and he had blood on his hands.’
Seemed I was wrong about the extent of China’s knowledge. He’d obviously done his homework.
Then another thought occurred to me.
‘What’s with the special effects? Why aren’t you talking directly to me?’
He let out a laugh. ‘All part of the plan, Hex. China Hayes is dead. I faked my own death.’
‘How do I know that McCallen is alive, that this isn’t a trick?’
‘You want proof of life?’
‘I do.’
‘You’d like me to send a picture?’
‘Whatever.’
‘How about a scream?’
Before I could answer, I heard a woman’s voice shouting no, followed by such an agonising cry of pain I almost dropped the phone. Was it McCallen’s voice? Anguished, I couldn’t tell. I wasn’t prepared to take the gamble. I wanted to tell him to stop hurting her, yet I knew that it would imply an emotional connection, which would make me weak. Uber-cool, I didn’t react.
‘Convinced?’
‘Yes. Take me and let her go.’
‘I’d hoped you might say that.’
‘Do we have a deal?’ I knew that there would be no trade, that this psycho wanted us both dead. He was simply having fun with me.
‘I think we might.’
‘Might isn’t good enough. Tell me where she is now.’
Silence.
It was as if the clocks had stopped turning and time had come to a shuddering halt. She was alive, I kept telling myself, which was good. What state she was in as China’s prisoner I dreaded to consider. China was a heartless man. In common with his kind, he enjoyed abusing women. He liked hearing them scream. The sound of her pain ripped through me with such exquisite intensity I had to exert every effort to concentrate.
‘I won’t contact the police or security services,’ I assured him.
‘Of course you won’t. They’ll ask too many uncomfortable questions about the man you killed and dumped in the quarry.’
I clamped my teeth together to prevent a response. I hadn’t disclosed that level of detail. How did he know? Was I seen? Did he have others watching me? Automatically, my eyes flicked to the window. An empty street apart from a stray cat. I was in danger of allowing paranoia to make my thinking sloppy.
With a first-class honours degree in cunning, China knew my methods. He had an approximate grasp on how I ticked. I felt a partial sense of relief because now I was dealing with a known quantity even if it meant doing business with a vicious and ruthless bastard. The whole Billy Squeeze story had been nothing more than a ruse to destabilise me. It wasn’t working. I had to keep him talking. The fact I had his laptop provided no consolation. I wondered if he knew I’d stolen it.
‘What do you want me to do?’
‘I’ll let you know.’
‘When? Tell me now.’
‘You’re in no position to call the shots, Hex.’
He was right. I swallowed hard.
‘You’ll hear from me in twenty-four hours.’
‘Twenty-four hours and then what?’
He hung up.